Prefab Homes

(Photos from http://weehouse.com/)

Prefab homes. They have always been a fascination of mine. The fascination started many years ago with photographs of prefab homes online and in Dwell magazine. Their  simplicity is beautiful. No frills, yet all you need. Nothing more, nothing less.

Why I love these homes is perfectly encapsulated by what Milton Glazer said. "Just enough is more." He said that less is not more, less is in fact usually less, but just enough can be and frequently is more.

"Just enough is more" embodies the ideal prefab home. These homes are not less, not lacking. They are just enough. Just enough space, just enough design...

Liz walked in the door a few weeks ago and I couldn't wait for her to pull up a chair next to the computer and see what I had been scheming for the last 30 minutes.
     - 5.6 Acres of wooded land near a lake in the  
      Poconos (Pennsylvania: 1.5-2hrs from NYC)
     - Half an acre in Rhode Island about 30
      minutes from Newport (3+ hours from NYC)
     - 6 acres of land in Maine between Ogunquit and
      Kennebunkport (6+ hours from NYC)

The Poconos seems like the best option. It's location would be ideal for getting away in a reasonable amount of time.

Liz thought it looked neat but was not entirely sure what she had gotten herself into when she pulled up a chair next to me...Then I said that there was more!

I had countless tabs open on the web browser of prefab homes and some preliminary pricing information. I showed her the uber-modern designs, the homes made from recycled shipping containers, and my favorite, the homes full of light with walls of windows. (Think Phillip Johnson's Glass House with a tad more privacy)

Liz and I were both hungry for dinner. My appetite is often curbed by my scheming. As my scheming continued I pulled up other tabs that I had all ready for her. When I scheme, I scheme. 30+ tabs with land listings, maps, mortgage calculators, various prefab manufactures and last but not least, a list of the parking garages near where we live in city and their pricing (Because we would clearly need a car if we had a house outside the city...oh, the scheming. Also, I had looked at a few cars too...Liz may not have known that at the time.)

When Liz and I met, in Rhode Island, our dream of having a house outside the city was born. We have a jar we fill with change that we somewhat jokingly and somewhat seriously call our Rhode Island Jar. Although it may need to be renamed the Poconos jar. We are on our way to a prefab home near a lake in the Poconos.

*The jar full of change, aka the down payment, has about $60 dollars in it according to Liz. I think it has closer to $80.